this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2023
376 points (92.3% liked)

World News

39046 readers
3962 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] becausechemistry@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (7 children)

The cryogens boil off at a pretty consistent rate no matter what, but the recovery/recompression systems do require power. So once power is cut, any boil off isn’t recovered.

Superconducting magnets (like in MRIs) can run effectively forever when at the right temperature. Turning them off requires a complex process of draining off that current slowly and carefully so that the magnet isn’t damaged. Hard to do on a normal day, and profoundly harder if there’s no power.

[–] palal@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Ahh, makes sense. That's so cool! Do you know what kind of priority a hospital would have if they were to ration electricity? Would an MRI machine be high on that list?

[–] becausechemistry@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No idea, but if it were up to me I’d spend that rationed power on ventilators and such keeping patients alive. Losing cryogens stinks, but you can top them off without any power as long as you have stock or deliveries. And I’d rather a magnet quench than have to explain to a dead person’s family that their loved one’s life was less valuable than some helium and a chunk of ceramic.

[–] palal@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Weren't they still doing surgeries at al-Shifa up until the power went out? I'd imagine that an MRI might be useful for diagnosing issues prior to surgery...

[–] becausechemistry@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Beats me. I’m just a chemist who managed my facility’s NMR magnets (built like MRIs but with different electronics for chemical analysis) for a few years. We had to pull some stunts to keep those magnets alive sometimes, but it was always a matter of how soon, not if, a shipment of cryogens would arrive. Can’t imagine trying to keep MRIs from quenching in a war zone.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)